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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28579779">Your Captain Will Be With You Shortly</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/violentrose/pseuds/violentrose'>violentrose</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Avengers (Marvel Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bucky Barnes &amp; Sam Wilson Friendship, Hostage Situations, Hydra (Marvel), Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, M/M, Protective Bucky Barnes, Rescue, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Wakes &amp; Funerals</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:15:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,044</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28579779</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/violentrose/pseuds/violentrose</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve Rogers, Captain America, National Hero, is dead.</p><p>It started with a mission at an old Hydra base and ended with Bucky, here, attending his funeral.</p><p>But maybe all is not what it seems. Maybe there's a chance for Bucky to get Steve back.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Self-Sacrificing Steve</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hello!!! so i haven't written in a while (or at all on this account) and i'm looking to get back into it so i've written this to kind of try and see how i feel about it, how it's received, and what i need to improve on etc.</p><p>i really enjoyed doing it tho, and i originally planned on making this a one-shot but i like where i left it so let me know what u think and whether you'd like the rest of the chapters lol :)</p><p>&lt;3</p><p>(ps i stole this idea off a prompt on tumblr but i dont want to spoil anything so i'll put the credit at the end of the last chapter)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>If it was up to him, Steve Rogers’ funeral would’ve been a simple one. Just his close friends and family, and a short service.</p><p>Captain America’s funeral, however, would be anything but simple.</p><p>The whole nation will be gathered around their screens, watching the live broadcast of the service. According to Tony, some were even lining the streets now, 12 hours before it was even about to take place.</p><p>Bucky didn’t understand it. Who in God’s fucking name would be camping out at midnight outside a goddamn church, waiting for the funeral of someone they didn’t even know?</p><p>If Steve were here he’d roll his eyes and tell Bucky to have a bit of empathy. That, to them, they did know Captain America.</p><p>But <em> if Steve were here </em>, none of this would be happening. If Steve were here, Bucky wouldn’t be walking around feeling like his insides were missing.</p><p>The rest of the team were downstairs in the communal area. They all knew that no one would really be able to sleep tonight so Tony had pulled out his “best whiskey” and they all kept each other company.</p><p>Bucky had lasted about 10 minutes before it became too much and he went back to his apartment. </p><p><em> “Everyone will understand if you don’t go tomorrow, you know.” </em> Sam had said. Bucky nodded with a tight lipped smile, but said nothing.</p><p>There was no way he couldn’t go. He knew it was going to be hard, but he knew he would regret it for the rest of his life if he didn’t go. He’d missed the first opportunity to say goodbye back in 1945 for obvious reasons, and Steve was already in the ice by the time Bucky’s funeral had taken place. For both of those things, he was kind of thankful. Obviously, it would have been preferable that Steve hadn’t sacrificed himself like an idiot, and for Bucky not to have been kidnapped by a Nazi organisation. But, either way, those things saved them both the heartache of saying goodbye.</p><p>They’d discussed it before, Bucky remembered, in a morbid sort of way. A little after his mother's funeral Steve had turned to Bucky from where he sat next to him on his couch and said, “Which one of us do you think will die first?”</p><p>Bucky had blinked, then grinned wryly. “I mean, considering we’re in the middle of a damn world war I think it’s anyone’s guess right now, Stevie.”</p><p>Steve sighed and continued sketching, and Bucky returned to his book. Then, after a few minutes of silence: “I hope it’s you.”</p><p>“Christ, thanks Steve-”</p><p>“I don’t want you to have to go through what I went through at Ma’s funeral if I go first. How it felt.” A familiar determined, protective frown was etched on his face.</p><p>Bucky’s heart squeezed. “Oh.” Steve nodded once, as if that settled it and turned back to his sketchbook. “Well, if it’s any consolation, I think we’ll live forever.” He said, wrapping his arm around Steve’s shoulder and resting his head atop his blonde mop.</p><p>And Steve smiled. And that settled it.</p><p>He’d been kind of right, to be fair. Bucky <em> had </em> fallen off that train before Steve crashed that plane. Even though, at the time, nobody knew that both of them had survived.</p><p>But now Bucky was about to find out how it felt. He’d only ever been to one funeral before, and that was Sarah’s. Now he was going to her son’s.<br/><br/></p><p> </p><p>The hours leading up to the ceremony were a blur. He didn’t sleep, and he didn’t really remember doing anything else. Knew he’d brushed his teeth because his mouth was minty, knew he’d showered because his hair - now shorter after he impulsively cut it himself when Steve disappeared and then had to get it done professionally - was still a bit damp. He knew, but not because he remembered any of it.</p><p>“Need help with that?” Natasha asked, standing in the doorway of his apartment.</p><p>Bucky looked down at the failed knot of his tie, then nodded.</p><p>She nodded back and stepped forward to help him, deftly tying it for him within seconds and tucking it into his blazer when she was finished.</p><p>He cleared his throat and looked in the mirror. “Thanks.”</p><p>She just nodded again, not needing to say anything else, then stepped back. “Everyone’s waiting downstairs. Take your time.”</p><p>It took a few deep breaths and another minute or so of eye contact with the person in the mirror before Bucky decided he was as ready as he’d ever be, and ventured downstairs to join everyone else.</p><p>There were so many <em> people </em> . Press standing outside of the Tower, just itching to see the grieving superheroes. Maybe a tear or two if they were lucky. Civilians lining the streets as they made their way to the church, and Bucky didn’t even know what <em> they </em>wanted to see. There was no body or coffin.</p><p>Long story short, once again Steve had been all too self-sacrificing.</p><p>Organisations like Hydra never really disappeared. Evil like that just goes underground and comes back in a different form once they think it’s safe for them.</p><p>The mission was at - what was believed to be - a disused Hydra base that some like-minded people were trying to revive.</p><p>When they got there, they’d discovered that it was actually a mini concentration camp - hundreds of innocent people were there, ones who’d gone missing or were presumed dead, ones that no one went looking for. People being experimented on. Children.</p><p>Steve had gone inside the main building across the field from the camp. He was supposed to be blowing the place up, but once he’d seen all of those people, he wanted to find who was responsible. He wanted - <em> needed </em> - to know if there were more camps, if there were more people he needed to get to before it was too late, like it nearly was for the ones here.</p><p>Bucky doesn’t even know how it happened. One minute Steve was on comms, telling them that he couldn’t find anyone and to start evacuating because he was on his way out and the place was about to blow. The next minute, silence. And then the building went up.</p><p>They’d spent weeks looking for him. Waiting, hoping to hear from him, hoping that he’d escaped somehow. Nothing.</p><p>Another thing lost to Hydra. They’d taken everything else, why not take the most important person in his life.</p><p>So, no body.</p><p>Nothing to see here folks. Well, nothing except Bucky hiding his tears behind sunglasses. That and the huge fucking screen outside the church that they’re projecting the service onto.</p><p><em> No </em> , Sam told him. <em> This was not a regular thing that people just did now </em>. It was something they were doing because it was Steve. And Steve was important.</p><p>It was… a normal service. As normal as it could be; hymns, nice words from the priest. It was normal until it wasn’t.</p><p>It started with murmurings outside. Bucky heard them before anyone else, but they eventually grew so loud that even those inside the church with regular hearing couldn’t ignore them, getting louder until even the priest stopped mid-sentence.</p><p>He heard Pepper mutter something about ‘<em> Protestors? </em>’ to Tony, the idea of which must have pissed him off enough to do something about it because he stood up, politely excused himself, and stormed back down the aisle towards the doors.</p><p>Bucky followed, partially to back him up, partially to have a break and some fresh air. This shit was hard.</p><p>But when Tony flung the doors open, there were no protestors, no trouble. Instead, everyone was staring up at the screen, looking confused and muttering to each other.</p><p>The screen was black, except for a message in white font that said:</p><p> </p><p>
  <b> <em>Please Stand By</em> </b>
</p><p><b><em>Your Captain Will Be With You Shortly</em></b> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Hacked</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It was supposed to be a normal service that Bucky could sit through and then go home and grieve in peace. And it was. Until it wasn't.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hm im not too sure about this one!!! but im putting it out there anyway lol practice makes perfect and all that</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Sick. Bucky felt sick. He was hot and clammy, and his eyes had already sought out the nearest bush in case his stomach decided to empty itself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What twisted fuck would do this? Was it supposed to be some practical joke?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He must have blacked out because the next thing he knew, Sam’s hand on his shoulder was bringing him back down to Earth.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come back inside. You look like you’re going to pass out.” He said, smooth and calming. Bucky didn’t argue, even letting Sam guide him back towards the doors, only dragging his eyes away from the screen when he couldn’t see it without tilting his head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bucky was grateful to be back in his seat because he was sure his knees were about to buckle and he was going to sink to the floor any second.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was too loud in this place. Everyone was chattering, all probably having been informed what was going on outside, and he felt like he could feel the heat from their gazes on the back of his head. Bucky wished he was back in his apartment. He wished none of this had happened. Not for the first time, he wished it was 1944.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Peter appeared on the seat behind Bucky, one hand next to Bucky’s shoulder on the back of the pew and the other clutching a phone that the teenager was now shoving in his face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With shock in his voice, he leaned over next to Bucky’s ear, “Look, Mr. Barnes! It’s being streamed across the world, too!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Now, Bucky still wasn’t completely caught up on modern technology, but he was interested enough in that kind of stuff to understand that what Peter had said wasn’t good. That it meant that hundreds of millions, probably billions of people were seeing that screen right now, with that haunting message.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His throat went tight, his voice sounding strangled. "Kid-"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And that was all Peter needed to retreat with wide sorrowful eyes, like a puppy you'd just told off for begging for food.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bucky looked around. The place was in chaos. Everyone was probably thinking the same thing he was; what did they want? Money? Notoriety? Did they just think it would be funny? Maybe it really was protestors. God knows not everyone likes the Avengers, and deservedly so in some ways. Hijacking a funeral, though.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then came the screams.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before Bucky knew it, he was up on his feet and sprinting back through the doors where the commotion was coming from.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>People were clutching each other, sobbing, pointing. Pointing at the huge screen that was temporarily hung on the church, right above the doorway that Bucky was standing in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As slowly as he dared, he turned to look at it, and this time he felt the bile rise to his throat.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Steve.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He looked… dead.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was the first thing Bucky noticed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Steve had always had fair skin, always caught the sun easily and got a spattering of freckles in the summer on his cheeks and shoulders. But now he looked sickly pale. Just like back then. Back when he </span>
  <em>
    <span>had </span>
  </em>
  <span>been sickly pale and his mother was minutes away from calling the local vicar to give him his last rites.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was shirtless and tied to a chair. There appeared to be some cloth or rope in his mouth, but Bucky couldn’t see it too well because Steve was slumped forward. As though the only thing preventing him from falling off the chair was the binds that kept his wrists tied together behind the chair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was soaking, and filthy. He was hurt. Fresh wounds that were trying to heal, and Bucky didn't want to imagine what wounds had been and gone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It had been </span>
  <em>
    <span>over a month</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It reminded him of an uglier time, where he knew what this kind of thing felt like.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It made him want to burn the world to the ground.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Don't be alarmed." Came a voice behind the camera. German. "He's alive."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bucky wanted to scream. To tear this fucker apart with his bare hands. He wanted so desperately to reach through this screen and take Steve home.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“America’s hero. Doesn’t look very heroic now, does he?” He </span>
  <em>
    <span>didn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span>. “I wonder what you’d give to have him back. And in one piece.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Bucky, we need to get back to the tower. Now. Nat is looking into where the stream is coming from already.” The voice sounded almost muffled, as though Bucky had tunnel vision for that video and that video only, and everything else was background noise.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The voice continued. “Of course, his kind can be very useful. Once you can bend them to your will.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Bucky</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” It was Sam’s voice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sam and Tony pretty much manhandled him into the car that had pulled up and he found himself squished between them in the back seats of the car. Then, they were on their way back to the tower, with that German accent growing quieter and quieter as they got further away from the church. “We’ll go over the rest of the footage another time, if that’s what you want.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>Want?</span>
  </em>
  <span> He didn’t want to see that. But he needed to. “For now, we have people back at the tower analysing it. Nat’s already there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bucky took a deep breath and exhaled shakily. “I’m going with you.” When he was met with silence, he continued, still looking straight ahead through the windscreen. “When you find out where he is, I’m going, too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sam and Tony glanced over at each other from where they sat on either side of Bucky. “‘Course. God knows you’d find your own way if we didn’t let you.” Sam joked weakly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bucky still wasn’t allowed on every mission. They let him go on the smaller, routine ones, and usually any involving Hydra in case he had any intel that could help them. For the most part, though, he was out of the way of the frontline and was a sniper in the shadows. He probably preferred that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was no question that he’d go on this one, though. Sam was only half-joking when he said they knew he’d find his own way to Steve if they didn’t let him go with them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The rest of the journey back to the tower was a quiet one, other than the occasional mumbling from Tony and him tapping on his phone screen every now and then. The only reassuring thing Bucky had to cling onto right now was knowing that Steve had people like Tony, Sam and the rest of the team. They were there when Bucky couldn’t be and he appreciated it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Reporters milled around the entrance to the tower, even more than before the funeral, with security pushing them back behind the barriers put in place. Inside, the lobby was quiet, as was the elevator ride up. As soon as they hit headquarters, though, the place was a cacophony of noise.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Agents determinedly striding from pillar to post, every meeting room full, countless computer screens analysing the video, frame by frame. Looks like it was proving harder than they thought.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tony sighed. “Friday, what’ve we got so far?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Activity on one of our servers has placed the incoming signals in Eastern Europe. I’m working to pinpoint that more specifically as we speak.” The disembodied voice informed them. “It is indicated that an inside source opened up a pathway for them to infiltrate it without tripping an alarm.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Inside source</span>
  </em>
  <span>. I thought we’d left that behind us.” He murmured, referring to the whole HYDRA-infiltrating-SHIELD-thing that everyone tries to avoid talking about.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sam frowned. “Wait a second. So, we lost Steve on that mission in Austria, right? And when he went into the building he said there was no one in there, other than the few remaining soldiers, which is just… odd. I mean, no one of a higher rank there? No Captains, no doctors, no scientists? It’s-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Almost like they were tipped off that we were coming.” Tony concluded slowly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nodding solemnly, Sam replied, “Exactly.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bucky felt his anger growing again. “So, what? They hid and waited? I mean, if this whole thing was planned, they must have been lying in wait, knowing he was going to be in there and preparing to ambush him.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t think it necessarily mattered to them who it was that they captured. An Avenger is an Avenger.” Nat said plainly, seeming to appear out of thin air behind Bucky. She turned to Tony. “We’ve narrowed it down to Ukraine. If I had to guess, somewhere in the mountains.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bucky nodded. “More than likely. Ukraine’s mountains have a lot of forest. It’d be easy to hide a bunker or something out there. Especially since trying to find one without any clue where it is would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Great. How encouraging.” Tony sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Guessing isn’t good enough, though. How does everyone feel about a recon trip back to Austria?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A crease formed between Nat’s eyebrows, “Tony, the place was flattened when Steve’s bomb detonated. There’s nothing left of it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, there’s nothing left of what’s above land, no. But like you said, the place was flattened. Completely destroyed. So that leads me to believe they must have had an underground section to the building, too. Perhaps even tunnels that led to somewhere that they had a plane or something that took them to Ukraine.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nat, Bucky, and Sam looked at each other until Sam spoke up. “Worth a shot. No point waiting around here doing nothing, anyway.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Great! You’ve got 5 minutes to suit up and meet me on the quinjet. I’ll tell the others to start making their way to Ukraine instead. Hopefully while they’re en route there’ll be an update on a more specific location. FRIDAY, can you tell Pepper to inform the Austrian and Ukrainian governments that we’re on our way. Oh, and let me know when you narrow down where those signals are coming from.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, sir.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before they all dispersed, Tony smiled. It looked like he aimed for reassuring but, to Bucky, it looked too forced. “We’ll get him back guys. He can’t get rid of us this easily.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bucky wished he felt so confident, even if it was fake. Instead the sinking feeling that Steve was slipping through his fingers with every second that passed grew.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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